A dismal batting display was largely to blame as England tasted defeat for the first time during their tour to South Africa.

The visitors went down by four wickets against the Proteas' second string in Bloemfontein.

Alastair Cook, who was dropped on nine and 12, top-scored with a scratchy 22 but could not prevent his side from being dismissed for a paltry 89 in the Twenty20 encounter.

He was one of just three batsmen to reach double figures as England lost their last eight wickets for 40 runs to be all out in 17.3 overs.

In response, Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid grabbed two wickets apiece, but it was not enough as Rilee Rossouw and Vaughn van Jaarsveld both hit 23 to guide their side home with 15 balls to spare against a weakened visiting attack missing frontline seamers James Anderson (knee), Graham Onions (back) and Stuart Broad (shoulder) through minor injuries.

Andrew Strauss, who no longer plays international 20-over cricket, was also absent with Joe Denly partnering Cook up front.

He took the first boundary off the third ball when he smashed Rory Kleinveldt away through the covers for four, while Cook's first runs came with a streaky edge down to third man from a good CJ de Villiers delivery.

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That seemed to set the tone for the Essex batsman as he struggled to find his feet and was dropped in an eventful fourth over, the second and third balls of which saw the bowler De Villiers put down consecutive difficult chances off both batsmen.

But luck finally went his way when a Denly (seven) edge was excellently snapped up by a diving Heino Kuhn behind the stumps.

Jonathan Trott (seven) was next to go when he smashed a widish De Villiers ball straight to Loots Bosman at point.

Paul Collingwood arrived in a hurry - smashing 10 from his first two balls bowled by De Villiers, who eventually returned two for 19.

At the other end, Cook was handed another life when Rossouw's one-handed effort at mid-on off the bowling of Juan Theron agonisingly popped out.

But his captain was not so fortunate and lost his wicket when he was bowled by Thandi Tshabalala (two for 16) for 18, leaving the tourists at 49 for three in the process.

The fifty came in the ninth over, but progress was still slow for England - the wickets of Eoin Morgan (11) and Cook, whose 30-ball stay ended when he was caught by Rossouw at long-on, did not help.

More drama followed as Matt Prior (nought), Luke Wright (two) and Tim Bresnan (four) were needlessly run out, before Swann (one) and Sajid Mahmood (one) were the last two out as England were dismissed with 15 balls to go.

The ball was tossed to Swann to open the bowling and it proved a bold move as the off-break bowler removed Kuhn (four) with his eighth delivery - the wicketkeeper caught at a wide backward point by Cook.

But once he was out of the attack, Bosman and Rossouw steadied the ship and mixed quick singles with boundaries to take their side to 46, before the latter tried to reverse sweep Rashid and top-edged to Prior.

The fifty came in 10 overs, but England then managed to effect another breakthrough, again through Swann, who had Bosman (18) stumped by his wicketkeeper, to finish with impressive figures of two for nine.

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Rashid grabbed his second wicket when opposing captain Justin Ontong (six) holed out to Denly at deep midwicket, while Mahmood removed Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Kleinveldt (13) was run out.

But it proved too late for England as Morne Morkel and De Villiers led their side over the line.